Ethan Thomas
Ethan Thomas is a video game character who first appeared in Condemned: Criminal Origins. His main enemy is SKX (Serial Killer X), who in the first game cut off one of his fingers, and in return Ethan shoots him in the face- regardless on whether you spared him. After the events that happened in the first game, Ethan has become an alcoholic, grown a beard and becomes much more violent and aggressive. Things in Metro City have gone from bad to worse, as instead of the occasional murder and more frequent robberies and arson attacks, there is now full scale riots, and the citizens slowly tearing eachother apart. When he gets the news of Malcolm Vanhorn's murder, Ethan must return once again to the SCU. Character History Ethan Thomas was at summer camp when his parents were killed. He never received the full story of what happened. He was just told a car accident had taken their lives. Thomas was bounced from foster home to foster home until he entered college. His grades were average until college when studying criminal psychology and law enforcement really sparked his interest. He quickly found himself on a fast track to becoming a criminal profiler within the FBI. Thomas possessed an uncanny ability to visualize a crime scene and decipher important information regarding the perpetrator. Also he remembers Malcolm Vanhorn from his childhood, confirming his parents and Malcolm's freindship. Psychic Ability Something that has never been fully explained is Ethan's psychic link to Serial Killers such as The MatchMaker and The Torturer. He always sees them in a darkened screen and looking at them from above to the back as if on the roof. His psychic abilities completly change in the second as the ability praticaly disapears and is replaced by waking nightmares in which he is attacked by demons composed of mainly blood, which are fast, but really easy to kill, as they die in a single hit. Condemned: Criminal Origins The game begins with Ethan Thomas arriving at the scene of a murder. He and his fellow officers go into an abandoned building that is surrounded by psychopaths and criminals. The murder they observe is one of a young woman. She is on the floor with strangled wounds across from a male mannequin. Ethan along with his colleagues agree that the murder was most likely one of the Match Maker's, a murderer that Ethan has been on the trail of for quite a while. After they observe the scene further they move into another room where they smell smoke. They decide to go after the suspect they hear above them by splitting up. While searching for the suspect, Ethan is flung from an electrical box by the resulting charge of activating it. This makes him accidentally drop his weapon and a man hiding in the shadows takes it. When Ethan manages to chase the man into a small dead end room. The man subdues Ethan and begins to try to convince him that they were on the same side. Ethan's colleagues enter the room as this event takes place, and the man shoots at them before shoving Ethan out a window onto the street. Ethan wakes up in his apartment with Malcolm Vanhorn, a friend of Ethan’s father, at his side. Malcolm warns Ethan that he is wanted for the deaths of two of the officers that the man at the crime scene shot. Ethan is determined to prove his innocence. He soon finds evidence that the man is interested in Ethan’s SCU career. Later, he finds the body of the Match Maker, killed by his own method of operation. He presumes that the man at the crime scene is trying to kill the serial killers that Ethan is looking for, referred to in the game as "Serial Killer X", so he searches for the one that he thinks is next, the Torturer. Shortly before finding the Torturer, Ethan is attacked by a strange man-like creature. Ethan kills the creature, and then finds the Torturer dead, also killed in the same way he killed his victims. Soon Ethan finds the mysterious killer, who is revealed to be Leland Vanhorn, nephew of Malcolm Vanhorn. Malcolm arrives and knocks Ethan out to prevent him from hurting Leland. Leland then knocks Malcolm out. When Ethan revives, he is tied up and at the mercy of Leland. He explains to Ethan that he has been killing the serial killers that Ethan had been hunting, and that he intends to kill Ethan as well. As Leland thinks of all the ways that he can kill Ethan, cutting Ethan's finger off in the process, Ethan notices another man-like creature hiding in the rafters. This creature is known as the Hate and is identified as the source of the madness gripping Metro City. Malcolm jumps Leland from behind and begins to wrestle him. Ethan manages to free himself, and Malcolm tells him to kill the creature saying that it is the cause of Leland’s madness. Ethan pursues the creature as it tries to escape. He eventually corners it in a barn and kills it. As Malcolm drives Ethan home, Ethan discovers that Leland is alive in the trunk of the car. When Ethan looks in the trunk, he is given the option to shoot Leland as he lies tied up. If he does not shoot Leland himself, Leland pulls out his gun and waves it at Ethan before committing suicide. Later, Ethan and Rosa are having a conversation in a diner when Rosa reveals that she is wired, possibly explaining that she still trusts him. Rosa then leaves the diner, after which Ethan goes to the bathroom. Something bizarre happens in the bathroom and Ethan's face becomes that of the man-like creature. Condemned: Bloodshot After a series of bizarre and unfortunate events, Ethan Thomas found himself drifting further and further from SCU, his former life and to some degree, his sanity. He became a suspect in a double homicide involving two Metro Police Officers. His boss, Ike Farrell, attempted to bring him in from the cold but Thomas refused—he trusted no one. He had questions about himself and about the mysterious dark influence over man that no one could answer. In addition, he commonly experienced horrific hallucinations that were getting worse each passing day. Wanting to numb his internal plight, Ethan hits rock bottom by choosing a life of isolation and self-medication to help silence his inner demons. Under the orders of Director Farrell, Ethan is recruited back into the SCU to investigate the murder of his one-time mentor Malcolm Vanhorn. He is aided by his old partner Rosa and commanded by the hostile and antagonistic Agent Dorland, SCU's tactical commander. Over the course of Ethan's investigation, he discovers that his arch-nemesis Serial Killer X is still alive, having been nursed back to health by his uncle Malcolm Vanhorn after being shot in the head at the end of the original Condemned. Serial Killer X killed Malcolm Vanhorn, as well as Metro City's Mayor Rachel Mars, and eventually kidnaps Director Farrell. Ethan and Rosa also discover the source of all the city's troubles is a secret organization known as "the Oro", the cult hinted at in the first Condemned, whose members use painful metal implants to develop psionic powers that allow them to influence and control the rest of humanity. Rosa theorizes that they are the source of all humanity's crimes, wars, and hatred. Serial Killer X, having learned about the Oro, now wants to harness their psionic ability, and is currently killing and dissecting Oro members to obtain this ability. The Oro are much more powerful than previously thought; their members include many high-ranking members of society, including Mayor Mars, Director Farrell, and Agent Dorland. The Oro also control the SCU, and Dorland and his tactical teams attempt to kill Ethan when he discovers their secret. Ethan fights back with the help of Rosa and SCU Agent LeRue, and even Serial Killer X, who saves Ethan from the SCU, calling it "a future investment." Malcolm Vanhorn, who has spent his life battling the Oro, leaves Ethan a videotaped message revealing the final truth; Ethan's parents were Oro members who defected from the organization and were killed for it. Ethan himself is "the Remedy", a long-prophesied being possessing "perfectly evolved" vocal cords capable of generating the Oro's sonic power without the metal implants the Oro use. Ethan's ability is more powerful than the Oros, capable of destroying flesh and bone. The Remedy is destined to be "the voice opposing that of the Oro." As a result, Agent Dorland and the Oro want Ethan dead. Director Farrell, part of a splinter faction of Oro that wants to recruit rather than destroy Ethan, sacrifices his life to unlock Ethan's sonic powers after the two of them are cornered by Agent Dorland. Ethan proceeds to the Peninsula, an artificial landmass where the Oro have a secret base from where they monitor and control the entire city. Using his newfound sonic powers, Ethan defeats the Oro members, destroys the Oro machinery allowing them to control the city, then battles Dorland in a sonic duel within the collapsing Peninsula. Defeated, Dorland informs Ethan that the Oro's motives are "To create hostility, The unwavering desire to fight. To unknowingly become... our protectors." Ethan asks what they're protecting against, receiving no reply. Ethan tells Dorland he's nothing more than a puppet, and the former commander is flung to his death. Ethan escapes in a helicopter along with Rosa and LeRue, declining LeRue's offer of a drink and falling asleep. Trivia Ethan's boot's in the second look similar to Timberland boots. In Condemned: Criminal Origins, Ethan is voiced by Greg Grunberg of Heroes fame. However, Greg Grunberg did not reprise his role as Ethan in Condemned 2, mostly due to the personality change. Instead, Ethan is voiced by Andre Sogliuzzo.